Coin-separator for toll-collecting apparatus.



e. T. BUCHANAN. COIN SEPARATOR FOR TOLL COLLECTING APPARATUS.

APPUCATION FILED OCT. 22.1914.

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T all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, Gnoaea T. BUCHANAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Highland Park, in the county of- Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Coin-Separators for Toll-Collecting A paratus, of which the following is a speci cation;

This invention relates to toll collectin devices for use at telephone pay stations an other places where repayment for services is required by providing one or more slots or runways of different sizes into which coins of proper value to pay for services rendered are deposited.

The object of the invention is to provide a very sim 1e and efiicient means to prevent the wrong ul use of the device through the improper placing of a coin in a slot or runway designed for a coin of higher value, and also. to prevent loss by the user of coins so improperly placed.

The objects are accomplished by placing in each of the runways sufiiciently wide to receive two or more coins of different diameters, a coin separator or deflector so disposed that all coins or tokens inserted in a runway will fall on said separator and such as are of less diameter than the coin or token of maximum size that will enter the runway are deflected from the runway into a side channel and discharged from the apparatus. Coins of the proper size will be caused to pass through the runway and finally be deposited into a (place of storage, said coins, if desired, soun ing an alarm after having passed the separator or deflector. This distribution of coins is made positive andautomatic by arranging the separator in the runway in such sition that the center of gravity of all coins of proper size will fall on one side of the separator, thence to continue their journey through the runway, while coins of less diameter falling with their centers of gravity on the opposite side of the separator are deflected into a side channel and e'ected from the device.

Re erring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation partly in section of the improved toll-collecting device. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same partly broken away.

In the drawings, 10 designatesthe. casing of the toll-collecting device of well-known construction within which are a plurality of runways to reoeivecoins or tokens 0t differ- Patented June 15, 1915.

ent'values, said runways leading to a drawer 1-1 atthebottom thereof into which the coins are deposited after passing through the device.- I he runways, of which three are shown in the present representation, are indicated at 12,.1'3and 14', and are designed to receive respectively coins of the value of five',-ten and twenty-five cents. These run- Ways open at the top of the casing in front of upstanding In 15 upon each of which is prominently disp ayed a number indicating the value of the coin to be deposited. The runways 12, Band 14 deliver at their lower end in the present form of the device into a cross-channel 16 that extends downwardly and at an angle across the runways and thence turns downwardly and opens at its lower end into'the drawer 11. The runway 13 for coins of the value of ten cents is the narrowest of the three, and lies in a vertical osition, so that a coin deposited therein alls straight downwardly into the crosschannel 16 and is delivered therethrough into the drawer 11. The channel 12 is of a width e ual to the diameter of a five cent coin, an inclines for a portion of its length toward the channel 13 as it passes to the cross-channel 16, so that coins deposited in said runway will as they pass through the inclined portion contact with the side 17 of said runway. At a suitable point in the length of the runway 12 is a branch channel 18 through which are shunted coins of less diameter than five-cent pieces such, for instance, as; ten-cent ieces, and one-cent pieces. This channel 18 shown for illustration as leading directly through the side of the casing- 10, but in use it will be so deflected before opening outwardly through the casing that it will be impossible to manipulate coins in the runway by passing a wire or other object through the branch channel.

The coin separator or deflector is situated at the junction of the branch channel 18 with the runway 12, and in the present instance consists of the corner 19 formed by the junction of the bottom 20 of the branch channel and the side 21 of the runway. This separator is so disposed with relation to the runway above it that coins of the value of five-cents when dropped into the runway will strike the separator 19 at such a point on the ed e of t e coin that the center of gravity 0 the coin will be on the side of the com away from the channel 18, and,

therefore, overbalance the coin, and cause it to drop through the lower ortion of the runway into the cross-channe 16. Coins of less values, such as ten-cent or one-cent pieces upon strikin the deflector will, because of their sma er diameter, fall with their center of gravity within the edge of the separator, and, therefore, will be caused to roll down the branch channel 18 from the device. To permit free movement of fivecent coins down the runway the latter is cut away at 22 on a curve as shown.

The runway 14 for twenty-five cent pieces also inclines in the direction of the runway 13 and is provided with a coin separator or deflector 23 at a suitable point in the length thereof and a branch channel 24 leading from the runway above the separator. The construction is substantially the same for the runway H as for the runway 12, such changes only being made as are necessary because of the larger diameter of the coin used therein. All coins of less diameter than a twenty-five-cent piece will, upon encountering the separator 23, roll through the branch-channel 24 because the center of gravity of such coins will fall within the corner of the separator and toward the channel; twenty-five cent pieces only strike the separator in a position where the center of gravity lies without the corner of the separator toward the runway, and, therefore, will fall into the lower portion of the runway and thence be carried through the cross channel 16 to the drawer 11.

That the central oiiice operator may know that a coin of proper value has been paid at the pay station alarms which may be, as shown, in the nature of gongs are placed in position each to be struck by a coin as it passes to the drawer 11. These gongs are of different sizes and produce tones of differ-- ent pitch, thus enabling the central-ofiice operator to distinguish by the sound reduced the value of the coin deposited. I desired,

the alarms may be so arranged that a coin of one value will cause one alarm only to sound. a coin of another value may sound two of the alarms, while the third coin may cause the sounding of all three of the alarms. This feature, however, forming no part of the present invention will not be described in detail.

What I claim as new is,-

1. In a coin separating device, a plurality of runways of different widths to receive coins or tokens, a cross-channel leading to a place of storage into which all the runways deliver, a branch channel leading from each of said runways to the outside of the device, and a separator in one or more of said runways at its junction with the branch channel to automatically separate coins or tokens of less size than those of proper size de-i posited in said runway by causing their centers of gravity to fall on opposite sides of said separator and direct the coins respectively into the branch channel or onward through the runway into the place of stora e.

2. In a coin separating device, an inclined runway to receive coins or tokens, a separator in said runway against which all coins inserted into said runway strike, said separator being so placed that the center of gravity of coins of a predetermined size or larger positively fall to one side of a line perpendicular to said separator, and the center of gravity of coins of less size will fall positively to the other side of said line.

3. In a coin separating device, an inclined runway down which coins or tokens are adapted to pass, and a separator in said runway against which the coins strike, said separator being out of and below the line of the center of the runway to automatically and positively separate coins or tokens of certain size from those of less size by causing the center of gravity of the coins of difl'erent sizes to fall on opposite sides of said separator.

4. In a coin separating device, an inclined runway to receive coins or tokens, a branch channel leading from said runway, and a separator formed by the junction of said runway with said branch and against which coins inserted into said runway will strike, coins of proper size being automatically separated from those of less size by causing the center of gravity of coins of one size to fall to one side of the separator, whereby the same is directed into the branch, and coins of the other size to fall to the other side of said separator and be directed onward into said runway.

5. In a coin separating device, a runway having a side thereof down which the coins are adapted to roll inclined, and a separator against which coins inserted into said runway strike, said separator being so spaced from the end of said inclined side of the runway that coins of a certain size strike said separator with their centers of gravity falling to one side of said separator, and coins of greater size strike said separator with their centers of gravity falling to the other side of said separator, whereby coins of different sizes are directed to opposite sides of said separator.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE T. BUCHANAN. Witnesses:

M. J. BAKER, T. C. GROGAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. waahingean, n. o." 

